-LRB- Mashable -RRB- -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down , more than two weeks after the protests that began January 25 in the country -- and launched a flood of #Jan25 and #Egypt tweets as well as media coverage that broke the mold -- to remove the president from power .

From the beginning , the revolution in Egypt was propelled by the use of social media . It at least partlybegan on Facebook with the creation of Facebook groups that gained hundreds of thousands of members and promoted the early protests in Cairo .

Subsequently , the government blocked Facebook and Twitter and eventually shut down Internet access completely . And with the outside world following the unfolding revolution online , political leaders and others , including Twitter , spoke out against the violence and freedom of expression issues at risk .

But even a government shut down could n't keep the news from flowing . Twitter and Facebook users found ways to work around the blackout . Though , eventually access was completely restored .

The events in Egypt served as a flash point for journalists on the ground , too . For perhaps one of the first times in history , history itself has been recorded instantaneously , as reporters took to Twitter to share 140-character updates and personal stories from the protests . The messages provided a stark reality to readers in the outside world , especially as the protests turned violent and police turned on journalists -- the very people many of us outside the country were following .

But Al Jazeera had its `` CNN Moment , '' and although it could n't reach viewers in the U.S. by cable television , it found a way to viewers -- on YouTube . The network live streamed Mubarak 's public address -- in which many believed he would resign -- Thursday via YouTube . But Al Jazeera 's comprehensive coverage put it on the radar for U.S. viewers and it created a campaign to bring its English-language network to U.S. televisions .

Images of the turmoil spread around the world via Flickr and Youtube , too . Al Jazeera made its images available by a Creative Commons license and its work reached an even broader audience around the world .

Without a doubt , social media , mobile devices and the web have brought the stories from Egypt closer to home . And conversely , the events in Egypt have shown the strength of these tools for both organizing and informing people . The Egyptian people and reporters alike found ways to share their messages even when the government tried to stop them . Using VPN , proxy sites , third party apps and other tools , they were able to continue sharing news with those of us on the outside . And at the same time , the rest of the world found ways to use tech to curate and disseminate information .

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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down

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Images of the turmoil spread around the world via Flickr and Youtube

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News was shared with the rest of the world using VPN , proxy sites and third party apps